“Constitutional changes not priority”

There are more important tasks in 2011 than changing the Constitution, says Serbian parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic. She explained that blank resignation letters could be revoked with changes to the law. “Constitutional changes not priority” “Priorities in the work of parliament will be further harmonization with the EU legislation and strengthening of supervisory function,” the speaker pointed out. She said that 2011 would be a working year and that politicians could do plenty for the Serbian citizens. “I think that there is much more important work to do than to change the Constitution. Of course, one can think about it and there are reasons to. For example, the number of MPs should probably be reduced but we won’t be able to do it without changing the Constitution,” Djukic-Dejanovic told Beta news agency. She stressed that it was not necessary to make changes to the Constitution in order to repeal MPs’ blank resignation letters and expressed expectation that this would be done in 2011 through the election legislation. The parliament speaker also explained that the parliament budget envisaged possibility to increase the MPs’ salaries and that the Administrative Committee would make a decision about that. When asked why the public was more interested in MPs’ salaries than in the salaries of other government employees, she said that this was because of the fact that everything that was happening in the Serbian parliament was available to the citizens. “MPs are in the citizens’ homes every day through the [TV] screen. They think that the elected representatives of the citizens, i.e. MPs, and I agree with the citizens, should share their standard and fate,” Djukic-Dejanovic pointed. She stressed, however, that MPs in the region, i.e. in the countries that are economically very similar to Serbia, had at least one or two assistants and that their salaries were at least two and a half or three times higher. According to the parliament speaker, cooperation between parliament and the media is not at the level it should be and that is therefore preventing the citizens from seeing a real picture about what is going on in parliament and that they will make an effort to improve the situation. “Parliament does not have pending draft laws. We practically do not have a single important law pending, especially not a pro-European one regarding harmonization,” Djukic-Dejanovic pointed out. According to her, parliament for the first time has its own budget and it will distribute the funds in accordance with priorities and will focus on strengthening of parliament’s supervisory function. Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic (Tanjug, file)

“Constitutional changes not priority”

“Priorities in the work of parliament will be further harmonization with the EU legislation and strengthening of supervisory function,” the speaker pointed out.

She said that 2011 would be a working year and that politicians could do plenty for the Serbian citizens.

“I think that there is much more important work to do than to change the Constitution. Of course, one can think about it and there are reasons to. For example, the number of MPs should probably be reduced but we won’t be able to do it without changing the Constitution,” Đukić-Dejanović told Beta news agency.

She stressed that it was not necessary to make changes to the Constitution in order to repeal MPs’ blank resignation letters and expressed expectation that this would be done in 2011 through the election legislation.

The parliament speaker also explained that the parliament budget envisaged possibility to increase the MPs’ salaries and that the Administrative Committee would make a decision about that.

When asked why the public was more interested in MPs’ salaries than in the salaries of other government employees, she said that this was because of the fact that everything that was happening in the Serbian parliament was available to the citizens.

“MPs are in the citizens’ homes every day through the [TV] screen. They think that the elected representatives of the citizens, i.e. MPs, and I agree with the citizens, should share their standard and fate,” Đukić-Dejanović pointed.

She stressed, however, that MPs in the region, i.e. in the countries that are economically very similar to Serbia, had at least one or two assistants and that their salaries were at least two and a half or three times higher.

According to the parliament speaker, cooperation between parliament and the media is not at the level it should be and that is therefore preventing the citizens from seeing a real picture about what is going on in parliament and that they will make an effort to improve the situation.

“Parliament does not have pending draft laws. We practically do not have a single important law pending, especially not a pro-European one regarding harmonization,” Đukić-Dejanović pointed out.

According to her, parliament for the first time has its own budget and it will distribute the funds in accordance with priorities and will focus on strengthening of parliament’s supervisory function.